Pietus

"Ah yes, philosophy - I suppose we all have to try and explain our actions eventually.. so, why do I destroy? simple, it makes sense.. I mean really think on it for a second.. the Divine claim to treasure free-will yet what is the inevitable outcome of free-will? that's right.. destruction.. everyone is edging towards insanity, death and ruin.. I plan on helping it along, after all, what's an apocalypse without a little screaming?" ~ Pietus

Pietus is a powerful supernatural being akin to what mortals would consider angels, his first chronological appearance is in House of Lights and he would become the central antagonist of all future stories in his setting.

Contents

History

Servant To The Light

Long ago Pietus served amongst the ranks of several angelic-beings, loyal to a deity known only as the Light - Pietus was one of the Triad, the Light's three most trusted and beloved servants: while his brother and sister acted as the Light's Guardian and Advisor in turn Pietus was given the unique role of the Light's Court-Jester.

Although many lower-ranking angels felt that Pietus was the most useless of the Triad the Light seemed to disagree and believed that Pietus' role was one of utmost importance.

Obsession With Chaos

However the Light was not omnipotent and thus did not see (or rather refused to see) that Pietus was, by nature, a rather disturbed individual who would spend hours locked away in the Great Library.

While in the Great Library Pietus would study in detail innumerable tomes of knowledge, many of them forbidden, dealing with chaos and the consequences of free will - Pietus became utterly obsessed with the dangerous philosophy that free will ultimately led to violent chaos and thus chaos was, in its own way, true salvation.

Trouble In Paradise

In time Pietus became bold and daring, causing controversy amongst the angels as he openly began to express his views - his daily shows for the Light became increasingly morbid and mocking as his hatred for the natural order began to take true form.

During one of his shows Pietus went too far in his mockery of the Light and the Guardian took to the stage, ordering the show to end abruptly - the Light was disappointed in Guardian for acting without permission but was finally persuaded by its Advisor to take action against Pietus for his behavior.

Reluctant to discipline its favored servant the Light instead opted for having Pietus publically apologise - which he did, despite both the Advisor and Guardian wishing the Light to do more the deity would hear no more on the matter and had the matter dropped.

Fall From Grace

Soon after this event Pietus would return to his old ways and his shows once again took a morbid, mocking tone - seeing that Pietus was unrepentitive and hurt by the fact Pietus had blatantly lied to it the Light finally acted and had Pietus' priviliges removed.

In a final effort to save Pietus from his own madness the Light offered to teach Pietus personally in the ways of order, yet in an act of utter hubris Pietus openly rejected the deity's offer in favor of his own chaotic philosophy.

Left with no choice and finally seeing the danger Pietus posed not only to itself but to all of creation the Light order that Pietus be cast from Paradise..

Yet Pietus was a powerful entity and would not be leaving without a fight..

The War Of The Triad

So it was that Pietus fought against his brother (Guardian) and sister (Advisor) for three long weeks, the battle was relentless and lasted both day and night - setting the surrounding area aflame with energy as the three entities battled for the future of their world.

The Light watched this battle, unable (or unwilling) to fight personally - the deity was filled with great sadness upon seeing Pietus fight so viciously against his own kind, yet the deity knew that for the sake of creation Pietus had to fall.

The Descent

On the seventh night of the third week Pietus was still engaged in battle with his siblings and the Light decided to end the battle - commanding all of its followers to unite against Pietus.

Thus Pietus was completely overwhelmed as the entire Host of the Light swept over him, dragging him to the edge of Paradise and hurling him into the Nether, as Pietus flew through the Nether the Sign Of Trust was burned from his skin and he cursed the name of the Light and its followers as well as that of order itself, swearing an undying alliegance to chaos the one "true" salvation.

Then after a full week of falling through the Nether Pietus would slam down upon a barren world like a meteor, awakening to a world of flesh and blood Pietus was now cast down.. part of the mortal-world.

Pursuit Of The Ultimate Truth

Upon awakening in the mortal-world Pietus began a long journey across countless worlds seeking out what he called the "ultimate truth" - a twisted belief in salvation through violent chaos, many worlds fell into total anarchy under his manipulation and some were totally destroyed by war and conflict.

Pietus became a spectre of death and destruction, an embodiment of the unstoppable and unfathomable powers of freedom devoid of limit or reason, the darkest aspect of free will - a being whose very existence was now an affront to the natural order.

Role In Villains Multiverse

Pietus surfaced over a small European mountain-village and proceeded to cause widescale destruction, destroying the town - attracting the attention of Amnesty, Arbiter and a mysterious winged-figure: Pietus proceeded to cause havoc as he went on a destructive rampage.

However Pietus was soon overpowered when an entire host of angels loyal to the Light intervened and swarmed him as he attempted to obliterate the group with his "Wings Of Chaos" - resulting in the confrontation coming to a somewhat dramatic but quick end as Pietus was forced to retreat back into the Nether, dragging along the host of angelic attackers with him but swearing to return some day to finish what he started..

Pietus would resurface on Earth searching for a Seal of Restoration hidden underneath a busy carnival, antagonizing Deathwalker and Ruby along the way - as he and the two heroes fought the Seal was corrupted and Pietus thought his plan had been ruined, to his surprise however the Servitor that was born was still loyal to him despite being corrupted and thus Pietus had the means to cause chaos on Earth.

Pietus ordered the Servitor to cause havoc and even built his own floating fortress, causing a group of Light Keepers to arrive on Earth to try and defeat the Servitor and break the Seal - yet the corrupted Seal was too powerful for them and despite their best efforts they could not beat it.

Meanwhile Pietus continued to toy with Deathwalker and Ruby but soon snapped into a rage, finding himself unhappy with the fact that despite having gained near-supreme power he was still very much alone - after a heated confrontation with the future Random Pietus destroyed his own fortress and disappeared in a rage.

Personality

Pietus is a perversion of the classical art of both the clown and the jester - having a talent for taking pranks and comedy while twisting them into sardonic, mocking attacks on any and all targets.

An agent of the dark elements of free-will he champions a world in which beings say and do what they please with an empathize on personal pleasure via the destruction of others, to Pietus nothing is more "fun" than breaking down another individual, doing the same to millions (even billions) is simply an added bonus.

A master of psychological warfare Pietus can appear to flirt with anyone (regardless of gender) but does so in a dark, unpredictable and often truly vile manner designed purely to belittle and ultimately crush a victim.

Pietus sees the Light as his opposite and despises Order, seeing Chaos as the only "truth" - he has also grown to see "good" as an enemy and thus greatly gravitates towards ethical evil : this coupled with his sadistic, anti-social personality has labelled him the legendary "King of Terror" to many cultures.

Powers/Abilities

Wish-Fulfilment (Pietus can grant wishes to those that willingly ask for him to do so, he has the authority to warp these wishes as he sees fit - however he can not grant wishes that go against certain universal laws that even angelic beings can not cross (normally laws created by supreme-entities such as deities or higher-level spiritual powers).)

Mastery Of The Spoken Word (Pietus can master any spoken language and has an unnaturally charismatic voice that is hard to resist, even strong-willed individuals find it hard to doubt the words Pietus speaks, even when they are blatant lies and when speaking to large crowds Pietus can easily amass large numbers of people to his will.)

Supreme Cunning (A master of manipulation and deceit, Pietus is in possession of an unnatural level of cunning that can put him at a large advantage over even the most experienced of opponents - often by the time one is aware of Pietus the entity has already learned all their is to learn about his opponent and it is very rare that Pietus is caught unprepared.)

Immortality (Pietus is not born of flesh and blood but of pure spiritual energy - as such he can never age nor die from conventional injury, even wounds from mystic sources or advanced weaponry can never kill him: they can, however, harm him to the point he must retreat into a state of deep hibernation.)

Wings Of Chaos (A corruption of the traditional angelic gift known as "Wings Of Order" - as the name suggests many angelic beings hold the power to harness the power of order and unleash it via a strong flap of their wings, expelling the energy outwards in a powerful blast that deals great damage to those that seek them harm. However Pietus has reworked this ability for his own gain and harnesses the power of chaos to perform a similiar act, the major difference is that by using the power of chaos Pietus can harm other angelic-beings (who are immune to the power of order).)

Dance Of Chaos (another corruption of a natural angelic gift, the "Dance Of Chaos" was created by Pietus to take advantage of his natural ability to move at superhuman speeds - normally this gift is used by angelic beings to race to the aid of those in trouble and shield them from harm via the use of their wings, however as an agent of chaos Pietus has learnt to use the gift instead to spin rapidly, like a tornado, absorbing aggressors, projectiles or other hazards and then hurling them at great force at his target.)

Dimensional-Mastery (most angelic-beings can naturally move freely across space/time and Pietus is no exception - he is no longer able to travel through time as his rebellion from the Light has cause the Sign Of Trust to be burned from his skin, without this sacred symbol Pietus can't transfer the realms of time. This is a safeguard of sorts by the Light to prevent rebellious angels (such as Pietus) from gaining access to time-travel, a gift considered too dangerous to be left in the hands of its enemies. However Pietus is still capable of mastering dimensional-magic, which can be used to open and close portals of varying sizes and properties - this is by far one of Pietus' most often used and dangerous abilities and one he is very talented at exploiting.)

Empathy (even the lowest-ranking of angelic being have some level of empathy, able to look into the emotional-state of others and manipulating them on a limited scale - normally angelic-beings do this to soothe those in great pain or to calm those consumed by rage or hatred. Pietus, like many rebellious angels, instead uses his still functional empathy to spread hate, fear and general misery amongst others.)

Pietus' original form

Pietus (brief female form taken post-Shadow of Death)

robotic Pietus created in Lord of Illusion 2 (using stolen technology from Earth)

Pietus trapped in "bug" form after being struck by Awe and Wonder (lasted for around four stories during Random era)